Blog Posts

Truth About Pregnancy Centers

The Pregnancy Help Center is licensed by the state of California as a Medical Clinic. Our mission is to offer compassionate care and accurate medical information to all clients. Our Medical Director, a licensed Ob/Gyn M.D. oversees our ultrasound program and all the results.

It’s important to hear the truth about pregnancy help centers and our practices. The following is reprinted from the Heartbeat International website, PregnancyCenterTruth.com:

TRUTH: Women deserve access to quality, affordable health care services that comply with the highest standards of care. Free ultrasound services at pregnancy centers are provided under applicable national guidelines set forth by the American Institute in Ultrasound Medicine, the American College of Radiology, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

The protocols that regulate the use of ultrasound technology in pregnancy help centers are the same ones that regulate its use all across the country.

As of 2017, more than 7 in 10 (or 1,944) of the estimated 2,752 pro-life pregnancy center sites nationwide offer limited ultrasound to accurately diagnose a viable pregnancy, establish that the pregnancy is intrauterine, and determine the baby’s gestational age.

According to a report by the Charlotte Lozier Institute, Heartbeat International and National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) have provided training in the provision of limited obstetrical ultrasound to about 3,500 medical personnel, including RNs, registered diagnostic medical sonographers (RDMSs), physician assistants, nurse practitioners, MDs, and DOs. NIFLA has trained an additional 796 management professionals in the medical pregnancy center or clinic setting. As of 2017, about 7,500 of pregnancy center volunteers were estimated to be medical professionals

The impact of these volunteer medical services is considerable. In 2017, pregnancy centers in the U.S. delivered approximately 400,100 ultrasounds, an estimated community cost savings of more than $100 million.

While a vast majority of pregnancy center services are donor-funded, Planned Parenthood—which received $544 million in taxpayer funding in 2017 alone—charges its clients $150 for an intake visit that comprises an ultrasound, lab work and “options counseling” prior to an abortion. Many women report that Planned Parenthood did not allow them to view their ultrasound images, despite the fact that the woman paid for the ultrasound.

One woman, Donna from Indiana, says, “I have had two abortions, one in a Planned Parenthood clinic, one in a hospital where I was referred by Planned Parenthood. Neither time did I receive any counseling. I had an ultrasound at Planned Parenthood and they were very careful to turn the monitor away from me so that I could not see my baby on the screen. I was told it was just a small mass of tissue at such an early stage of pregnancy. I would have made different decisions if I had been given complete information.”

Medical accuracy is critical for any woman considering a life-changing procedure, and medical personnel at pregnancy centers are trained to provide just that. “A small mass of tissue” simply doesn’t describe the extraordinarily intricate development that occurs in the earliest stages of pregnancy. Any organization that says they uphold women’s health care should not obscure or hide the facts of basic human development.